Monthly Archives: August 2015

Ashley Madison bills itself as the discreet place to have an affair online, but hackers have taken any discretion out of the site entirely after releasing 9.7 gigabytes of data on the website’s user base. This data includes everything from addresses to credit card numbers, with some information about personal preferences mixed in. If you are concerned your information was leaked, here are the facts you need to know.

You Can Check if Your Info Was Leaked

Whether you knew you joined Ashley Madison or someone plugged your email address into the field without your knowledge, there is a good chance that your email address was leaked if it was in the Ashley Madison database. There are two methods you can use to check if your address was included:

Google your name and your email address. This will bring up any URLs hosting your information.

Use a website like Trustify to search for your email address. These forms check your email address against the database.

Know the Risks

If your email was included in the list, it’s too late to turn back. That doesn’t mean you should ignore the potential risks you face. If your spouse finds out, your marriage could crumble. If your work found out, you could lose your job. In fact, that may be reality for the 15,000 or so email addresses belonging to .gov or .mil organizations.

There are also problems that can come with your identifiable information becoming public. Most people who signed up for Ashley Madison did so with faked credentials, but those who paid the website to remove their profiles also had their information leaked in this breach.

If this happened to you, don’t waste time. Hire a reputation management company to minimize the damage.